Friday, October 31, You don't know me

Post 1303, Day 304 of 2014
- 1,400 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

'Way back in the day, before I ever thought about leaving New York City, I had a fair amount of notoriety, at least in some circles.

This led to some funny incidents related to that 'fame'.

On a few occasions, I would meet people, and when they heard I was a bass player, they asked if I knew... myself!

I would say I'd heard of me. Then I'd ask if they'd ever heard him (me) play. Quite a few said they had. (Hmmmm.)

I would then ask what they thought of 'his' performance. No matter how they answered (usually varying degrees of positive), I would take an opposite position, using words like 'over-rated', or 'sloppy' (actually what I thought of my playing in those days).

And I would finish up with a personal assessment: "I hear he's an asshole, though."

I never revealed they were talking to the bass player they were talking about.

That was then. I was poking fun at them, poking fun at me. I didn't have time for people who had that kind of pretension. I was dismissive and arrogant.

Today, I see things differently. I believe that every experience, and certainly every personal encounter, happens for a reason, can be learned from, and therefore provides an opportunity for growth.

I hope that I have learned some humility in the last forty years. I try to remember that I don't actually know what is going on in anybody else's head, anybody else's life - we are not ever permitted a complete picture of another.

The 'other-ness' of other people is mostly illusory. The 'I' and 'them' duality is false. File that under, 'Beliefs'.

Yes, everybody I meet is some aspect of me, recognizable or not.

Food and Diet Section

2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:          208.8 lbs

Previous Weight:         206.8 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:       + 2.0 lbs

Diet Comment

Too many Quest Bars yesterday? I don't see this two-pound reversal making any sense. 

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch

Eggs scrambled with kale, peppers and onions, side of bacon.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
At La Piazza:

Lamb, pork, beef kabobs with Greek yogurt, home-made pita and tomatoes and onions.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  24 oz.   Water: 88+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Thursday, October 30 Obligation to young performers

Post 1302, Day 303 of 2014
- 1,399 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Last night, at an open mic, the house drummer took me to task - mildly, not hysterically - for calling him up with me to play with a singer/guitarist who we both know is rhythm/tempo/groove-challenged.

I apologized for making him work harder than he likes, but told him I thought veterans have a responsibility for assisting beginners.

I also told him I love opportunities to work with challenging musicians at all skill-levels, because they bring out things in me that are elusive when playing in my comfort zone (and impossible when playing alone).

I make these opportunities, volunteering to play with absolutely anybody at the open mics I attend. Once this was known, the hosts typically are grateful - I'm helping with what they don't want to do. Interestingly, I often get more compliments after playing a set that, on the face of it, is not particularly good, than I do when I'm playing with veteran musicians who reliably get everything right in performance.

It makes sense to me.

After a jam - a failed effort, in my judgment - in which musicians at all levels were playing - some arguably better than me, most indisputably worse at putting on a good musical performance - I was complimented on my performance from a veteran musician in the audience for his son's band's set. He simply said, "I've heard you play often over the years, but I finally just got what it is you do. It was great. Thank you."

I guess my approach is just right. For me.

After that set last night, the drummer said, "I can't believe you managed to find a line in all of that."  Admitting that it hadn't all worked out, but it was more than the drummer expected, I replied, "You get lemons, you make lemonade." 

Cliche? Sure. 

Musical value to this approach? In my opinion, very high.

Food and Diet Section

2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:          206.8 lbs

Previous Weight:         208.0 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:       - 1.2 lbs

Diet Comment

The loss continues. 

Food Log 

Breakfast
A cocoa-hemp-kale protein shake (almond-coconut milk, kefir, kale, large organic egg, whey powder (24g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, fermented coconut water, chia gel, moringa leaf powder, celery, cinnamon and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch

Salmon salad (Wild Alaska pink salmon, celery, mayonnaise) on baby kale, baby spinach, chard, black beans and cole slaw mix.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
Pepperoni and a Quest bar.

Snack
Quest bars.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  24 oz.   Water: 100+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Wednesday, October 29

Post 1301, Day 302 of 2014
- 1,398 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

My first instrument was the guitar. My parents enrolled me in a group class with a rented guitar shortly before my tenth birthday. The guitar was terrible and played badly. I complained and the teachers got angry. My next teacher, for about six months, was Marlene Feingold.

I played guitar for eight years, with side-trips to alto sax (High School band), bassoon (High School orchestra), and bass (needed by bands). Sax was a flirtation, and bassoon was imposed by my parents.

The problem with all these instrument side trips was that I didn't know what to do with the participating instruments. The reasons for this were that I didn't understand, in general, and despite participating in bands and orchestra, how musical instruments worked together, or how to put their unique voices in service to the music. I also didn't care for the material I was learning on them. On guitar, I played folk, pop, rock - but it was really nothing to me but a vocal accompaniment. I didn't have much feel for guitar, despite my enthusiasm.

Sax and bassoon weren't good for me because, besides the reasons above, I liked to sing (that's an emotional, not a qualitative statement).
And I was no good at bass in those days. I had no feel, no understanding of the bass's role in the music I liked.

My enlightenment and epiphany on bass came from my High School best friend Thom Jones taking me to see the Motown Review, with the Motown Orchestra, at the Apollo theater. There were a few elements that made this an ah-ha moment for me.

First, and most importantly, this was the first time I had ever seen any Motown live, and the music I heard became, from that date on, really important to me.

Almost as important: Unlike typical Apollo shows, the orchestra was not in the pit, they were onstage on risers, creating a big-band-jazz look behind the various singing groups.

And, finally, the band was led by the bass player.

And that's when the power of the bass, the beauty of the bass, the function of the bass, the idea of the bass, and the way it could move people, hit me. It hit me hard.

I dropped the sax and bassoon almost immediately. I still played guitar, but only as a singer, and I never sang while playing bass.

In a few years, it was all about bass.

Food and Diet Section

2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:          208.0 lbs

Previous Weight:         210.2 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:       - 2.2 lbs

Diet Comment

First loss since before the weekend. Good! Next weekend coming up... 

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch
At Ling-Ling's Chinese Buffet and Grill:

Brussels sprouts, kimchee, and, from the "Mongolian Grill", my go-to dish: pork and chicken with cabbage, onions, mushrooms, green peppers and broccoli. A Quest bar for dessert.

Dinner
Celery with mayonnaise and Quest bars.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  0 oz.   Water: 88+ oz. Two shots of Jameson's.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Tuesday, October 28, Word riff

Post 1300, Day 301 of 2014
- 1,397 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I started today's comment a lot of times.

My technique of asking a question, then riffing produced nothing worthwhile (I am the judge).

My fallback of making a statement or recording a thought, then riffing on it also failed me today.

I think my riffing skills are intact - I just think my thoughts are mundane and uninspiring today.

If I were - what? - smarter or wittier or maybe more interesting, I could probably turn those thoughts into something I wouldn't mind publishing.

But I am as smart, witty and interesting as I am - nothing more, and not much to be gained by wishing otherwise. All of these must suffice. They are as developed as nature and nurture have allowed them to be at this point. They will change, either increase or wane, in the future. Or not. Who knows or cares how?

Not me.

While I might improve myself in the future, right now I have only what I have right now to cope with whatever the reality, the elusive gone-as-soon-as-it-appears 'now' that genetics and my personal story have given me. That's all I will ever have, too - not that they won't change over time, but at any given point, I am what I am, and have what I have.

I can continue writing this - it will somehow effect my future in ways I can't predict - or stop and 'work' on myself. But perhaps I'm splitting hairs between doing something that is somehow, for whatever reason, what I want to do (write my Daily Comment), and whose consequence on the future, my future, is unknown, or I can do some 'work' on myself, something I hope to predict and control, with the idea that it will make me better in the future.

My choice is obvious if you've read this far, and, going back to the beginning of the post, it looks like my fallback plan worked out, after all - and my riffing skills are fine.

Food and Diet Section

2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:          210.2 lbs

Previous Weight:         209.6 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:       + 0.6 lbs

Diet Comment

I gained a little, thanks to a big pizza party in my mouth yesterday. Today, with no outsourcing of the cooking, will be better.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A Quest bar.

Lunch

Roasted turkey breast on baby kale, baby spinach, chard, black beans and cole slaw mix with balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner
Bacon and eggs with peppers and onions.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 100+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Monday, October 27 - Mind churn

Post 1299, Day 300 of 2014
- 1,396 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Over the weekend, I had a rare time when all my thoughts churned around some old, nagging problems.

I think, because this is little more than wallowing in the past, remembering and recreating negative emotions, that it represents perfectly what I believe about the source of depression and anxiety, which is exactly this sort of thinking.

It was harrowing.

I had to, deliberately and specifically, 'will' myself out of this self-destructive thinking. I did it, but not before self-loathing set in.

As someone who has suffered from clinical depression in the past, I recognized where this could go. If these thoughts got any traction, they could push me off the rails.

I did not allow these thoughts, once I realized what was happening, so their effect on me was brief.

But the episode reminded me that I am responsible for my thoughts, whether I am aware of their source (conscious reasoning) or not (bubbling up from an unknown/unconscious stimulus). I am responsible for my thoughts as I become aware of them.

I've heard it said that, until you reign it in, the mind is like a spoiled, rich kid. It is used to getting anything it wants. When you say no, the spoiled brat throws a little tantrum. Meditation is how you deal with that.

So, meditation helps with this, and, in fact, meditating when I checked out these thoughts was important. So was consciously letting go of the emotion, once I had wallowed, just a little.

The 'consciously letting go of the emotion' part is something I learned a while ago - it is a simple, powerful process, and it consists of examining a thought, trying to feel the emotion attached fully, then saying to myself or out loud (usually that also means to myself, anyway) that I am ready to let it go now. Sometimes, it has to be repeated a few times before I feel it working, but it always works.

That is what I did in this case. My little letting go ritual followed by a short round of meditation.

That did it, and I snapped right back to happy!

Food and Diet Section

2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:          209.6 lbs

Previous Weight*:        208.6 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:       + 1.0 lbs
                          *  Friday, Oct 24
Diet Comment

I gained a pound over the weekend. Given what I ate, which included some off-plan eating, I'm kind of proud of that! 

Food Log 

Breakfast
Quest bars.

Lunch
A cocoa-hemp-kale protein shake (almond-coconut milk, kefir, kale, large organic egg, whey powder (24g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, fermented coconut water, chia gel, celery, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon and stevia-inulin blend.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
At Ironwood: 

A quarter of a personal pie, with fire-roasted chicken, bacon, prosciutto, basil, caramelized onions, mushrooms, cheese and sauce. Not shown: Gelato for dessert.

Snack
A Quest bar. 

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 88+ oz.  A BIG glass of Merlot.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Friday, October 24 Impatient with myself

Post 1298, Day 297 of 2014
- 1,393 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Sometimes, I say I'm going to do something, and don't. It really bothers me: I like to think I don't make promises (and I consider saying I'm going to do something a promise to do it) that I can't keep. But I do.

Announcing intentions is kind of a trap. You are saying something about the future, and nobody really knows what is going to happen.

I'm not talking about things I said I would do for someone else - those are commitments, at least the ones I've made (as opposed those that have been imposed), and I honor them, at least, as best I'm able, and no excuses. This specifically involves my saying I wanted to get and learn to play the upright bass.

I said it, publicly, and repeated it a number of times privately, but just haven't been able to put anything together to get it done. I dipped my toe in and spoke to a number of people about buying one, and one teacher. I didn't hit it off with the teacher (just a vibe, nothing wrong there) and have let it drop since.

I don't get it. This is something I've wanted to do for decades, maybe even, with greater or lesser passion, for most of my life. I dimly remember a children's show on TV (black and white, so before my teenage years) with Stubby Kaye and his doghouse, and I loved that bass. It is a bucket list item.

I came close about 15 years ago, getting ripped off via E-Bay trying to buy one. Something always seems to get in my way. Of course, it's me getting in my own way, especially this time.

All I can think of, is that, somehow, I'm unprepared for this. That may be why I'm bothered by it, irritated by my failure to follow through.

I guess it is going to happen in its own time, but I feel like it's my time, and I'm impatient.

With myself.

Food and Diet Section

2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:          208.6 lbs

Previous Weight:         211.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:       - 2.8 lbs

Diet Comment

I've been waiting for the big drop. There it is. 

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch
A cocoa-hemp-kale protein shake (almond-coconut milk, kefir, kale, large organic egg, whey powder (24g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, fermented coconut water, chia gel, celery, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon and stevia-inulin blend.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
At La Piazza:

Lamb, pork, beef kabobs with Greek yogurt, home-made pita and tomatoes and onions.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 88+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Thursday, October 23 Chillax time

Post 1297, Day 296 of 2014
- 1,392 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

It seemed wise and necessary to take a day off today.

Vacations take a toll - and vacations that cross time zones, more so. I had just gotten somewhat time-zone adapted when I flew back. Since returning, I have tried to keep my usual schedule together.

Fail. Until today, I went to work, made my rounds, and took care of all the quadrant 1 and 2 details of my life (the Necessary and Important, and Necessary but Unimportant stuff). Even some quadrant 4 things (Unnecessary but Important). Luckily, the weight of these matters wasn't great.

But this morning I hit a wall. Poor sleep seemed to dictate that I try and do a one-day reset. I spent the day catching up on email, processing my DVR, and, yes, the occasional nap. I made a few meals. Then went to bed only a little late, and earlier than usual.

It seems to have worked. I'm writing this Friday morning, and feeling refreshed.

Food and Diet Section

2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:          211.4 lbs

Previous Weight:         212.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:       - 1.0 lbs

Diet Comment

Continued loss - a good thing, too!

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch
A cocoa-hemp-kale protein shake (almond-coconut milk, kefir, kale, large organic egg, whey powder (24g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, fermented coconut water, chia gel, celery, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon and stevia-inulin blend.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
Salmon salad on baby kale, baby spinach and chard with cole slaw mix. A Quest bar for dessert.

Snack
Quest bars.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 36+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Wednesday, October 22 Work as I like

Post 1296, Day 295 of 2014
- 1,391 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I just happened to be looking through some old pics and found this, which I used a year ago, and decided to give it another spin. I like this pic a lot.

I have never enjoyed any job as much as I am enjoying my job at the VA.

It is not the challenge of the work, nor the light workload, nor the fact that it is strictly 9-5 and nothing to bring home when the workday is over. It isn't the lack of supervision (I've never met my current manager, and have never had a manager at my work location).

It certainly isn't the pay (40% less than my previous job) or the benefits (good not great). It isn't even the little pension I'll get if I stay all the way to retirement (which is the plan).

It is the real choice I have to quit if I don't like it - for any reason.

That choice is real and possible because I started this job just before my 61st birthday. I decided that, if I was still there after 20 months, when I was eligible for Social Security benefits, it would be my last stint as an employee - my last job.

Now, it is a fact that I expect to keep working at the VA until the end of January, 2016, when I am eligible for full Social Security benefit. At that time, two other great factors kick in: I will have been receiving a partial pension from my years with IBM for a year, and I will also be six weeks past qualifying for a small VA pension.

So I have been ready to leave this job for over two years now. There are benefits to staying on, and so I'm still here, but if the job ever gets in the way of my happiness, I'm gone, and I won't be looking for a replacement.

I've already told anybody who would listen this situation. The few people I speak with (on the phone) from my department know this. I have told my manager, to explain why I don't want my responsibilities to change, I don't want a promotion, I don't care about getting raises or career advancement.

The fact that I am working because it is convenient, pays better than not-working would, and has a stress-level that is non-existent, especially compared to every other job I've ever had, including ones I really liked, enables my care-free attitude.

Not giving a shit about working enables me to continue working.

Happily.

I know all this sounds like planning, but I don't think of it that way. I understand that it involves nothing but expectations, but I don't think about it that way, either. My expectations are lightly held, and based only on what currently happens, and come with the realization that they are, more than likely, inaccurate. My plans are frivolous, and I know it.

God laughs at my plans, and I laugh at my expectations.

Food and Diet Section

2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:          212.4 lbs

Previous Weight:         213.2 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:       - 0.8 lbs

Diet Comment

Continued loss - a good thing, too!.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch
At Ling-Ling's Chinese Buffet and Grill:

Brussels sprouts, kimchee, and, from the "Mongolian Grill", my go-to dish: pork and chicken with cabbage, onions, mushrooms, green peppers and broccoli. A Quest bar for dessert.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
Turkey burger with bacon, guacamole and cole slaw. A Quest bar for dessert.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  24 oz.   Water: 88+ oz. A shot of Jameson's.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Tuesday, October 21 No expectations

Post 1295, Day 294 of 2014
- 1,390 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I'm still back from my wonderful LA vacation.

I got into an interesting discussion with my old friend Marty (older than me, and someone I've known for more than 50 years), that centered around my philosophy.

I know what you're thinking, but actually Marty asked specific and pointed questions. True, just a sidewise hint could get me going, but in this case, he was actually interested.

Marty was very curious about how Buddhism affected my life and thinking. Now, as Buddhists go, I don't have much to offer. Once you go deeper than the Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, I'm pretty much out of my depth. I'm also completely unaffiliated, and not studying the writings of Buddhist scholars or priests.

To me, Buddhism comes down to accepting that nothing is permanent, meditating, and trying to be mindful/aware. I don't hold myself to any standards of piety, propriety or correctness. It is personal, and I don't proselytize. I don't care, much, what you think about it, but when asked, I will tell a person what I think about it.

Most of my answers to Marty's questions ended up with some fundamental concepts, and I shared the quote from Buddhism Now that so neatly and succinctly explains some of Buddhism's ideas that keep me attracted to this path: "You cannot change the past, arrange the future to suit yourself, or make other people say and do the things you want them to say and do. All of your power is contained within this moment, related to this particular body and mind.".

Marty told me the most difficult thing to understand was the idea that the past is done and the future is unknown. In fact, neither exist in the moment. He tied that in to his expectations, and couldn't see how one could avoid having any.

Which is when I reiterated that expectations were an attempt to control the non-existent future (all future is non-existent - by definition, it doesn't exist until it 'becomes' the present). He liked my mention that expectations shouldn't be confused with goals, and any goals are best approached as general directions, without being too specific about how to achieve them - that way, you are open to achieving them by means you can't anticipate (no expectations of how they will be achieved), and hold on very loosely, because as you move and change, so too may your goal evolve.

I say this a lot: At any time in my life, any time at all, if you asked me what my life would be like in five years, I would have guessed wrong. Taking the long view, my future has never been knowable by me.

I'm in a pretty good place now. Happy. I am, relatively, as secure as I've ever been. And I can't tell you how that happened. My story is one of things working out, but not according to any plan. My successes, such as they are, have come when I've been open to the way things were working out.

"Go with the Flow" has been my motto, and opposing the current has brought me low, time after time. No-to-low expectations have been involved in the way everything has worked out well. High, or fixed expectations have brought pain.

Marty didn't ask for advice (that's a good thing), but I am always prepared with the same advice that has worked so far: "Breathe. Keep doing that." Plus, per Andy's contribution, "Pay attention."

Food and Diet Section

2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:          213.2 lbs

Previous Weight:         214.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:       - 1.2 lbs

Diet Comment

My weight is coming down from off the chart, and that's a good thing!.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch

Eggs scrambled with kale, peppers and onions, side of bacon.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
Roasted turkey breast on Ezekiel 4:9 Flax sprouted grain bread with mayonnaise, and a salad of baby kale, baby spinach, chard and balsamic vinaigrette.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 96+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Monday, October 20 Heaviosity amidst the light

Post 1294, Day 293 of 2014
- 1,389 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I'm back from a wonderful vacation in LA.

I hope you all had a wonderful time while I was gone. If not, mine was good enough for both, or all, of us.

A lot to think about after this vacation. It is always the case. I meet new people, go to new places, enjoy new experiences.

I didn't write about it (or take that many pictures) because I wanted to be present when I'm there.

I got a new iPhone 6+ while I was out there - there was a minor glitch in the transaction, and I was without a phone (except for a few things that worked on wi-fi) for about 24 hours.

It turned out to be a pretty neutral event. My phone (new or old) is and was used more for data than telephony, and data works fine with wi-fi, and wi-fi is pretty much everywhere except out on the street.

Of course, out on the street is exactly where you most need the phone, and for a period of time, I was SOL when I needed a phone and I wasn't in range of wi-fi.

Worth mentioning is that I spent more time hatless during my week in LA than the entire year that led up to that week. I think I may be over my hat-always phase.

I also spent time with a few old friends, and found myself out of time to get up with some others. Interestingly, I spent a lot of time discussing philosophy (-ies), something that hasn't happened before in my LA visits.

It started at the beginning of my trip: My first full day in LA I went to a meet-up with Buddhist Boot Camp leader Timber Hawkeye. That was interesting - a dozen people discussing the question of whether there is such a thing as an inviolable principle or ideal, or whether circumstances make the notion moot. The straw man situation proposed was this: You hold life sacred, and would never take another life. But on a camping trip with your son, a bear attacks. Do you kill the bear?

It seems so simple. Yet, if 'not killing' and 'respect for all life' are core principles, your life is not more valuable than the bear's, and there's a dilemma. 

For me, I think the principle is framed incorrectly, and that causes the conflict. "Thou shalt not kill" is a ridiculous commandment, we kill all the time, invisibly, unconsciously. In fact, we are dying all the time, on a cellular level. Limiting the commandment to other humans, we also have the same problem: If you don't believe in killing other humans, you cannot defend your loved ones.

I think the answer is to have, as a principle, a positive: Not what you won't do, but what you will: Preserve life. Then, if you are being threatened by man or beast, you have a choice of how to best preserve life, and there is no conflict.

I see the real problem with having these principles is that they are attempts to keep something constant, when everything changes. You cannot cover all the possible situations that will challenge any belief or ideal. Any thing or idea that you try to hold constant in a Universe where everything changes and nothing is permanent causes suffering.

I found this understanding to be acceptable, but it was very troubling to many others in the group.

That was the first day of vacation. 

Heavy, man!

Food and Diet Section

2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:          214.4 lbs

Previous Weight*:        208.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:       + 6.0 lbs
                        * Thursday, October 9
Diet Comment

I knew this was coming... Vacation eating isn't the same, of course, and, given the way I ate, and all the wonderful - and off-plan (vacation!) - food I ate over the ten vacation days, I think a gain of only six pounds is fantastic.

Today I ate sparingly until dinner, at which time I did myself no good by accepting partial payment for my gig in the form of a great pizza. I still expect to lose weight, given my current highs, and the fact that I have been (by my estimate) coming off my highest weight of the year, which, thankfully, happened while I wasn't weighing myself (vacation weights are "estimated" (guessed at).

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch
A cocoa-hemp-kale protein shake (almond-coconut milk, kefir, kale, large organic egg, whey powder (24g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, fermented coconut water, chia gel, celery, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon and stevia-inulin blend.

Dinner
At Ironwood: 

A quarter of a personal pie, with fire-roasted chicken, bacon, prosciutto, basil, caramelized onions, mushrooms, cheese and sauce.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  24 oz.   Water: 42+ oz.

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Thursday, October 9 Gone fishing

Post 1292, Day 282 of 2014
- 1,378 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I am going to LA tomorrow, so we'll miss a little more than a week of blogging.

Be good while I'm gone.

Food and Diet Section

2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:          208.4 lbs

Previous Weight:         206.8 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:       + 1.6 lbs

Diet Comment

I blame this entirely on last night's dinner, a very high-carb affair.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch
At Ling-Ling's Chinese Buffet and Grill:

Brussels sprouts, kimchee, and, from the "Mongolian Grill", my go-to dish: pork and chicken with cabbage, onions, mushrooms, green peppers and broccoli. Quest bars for dessert.

Snack
Quest bars.

Dinner
Skipped.

Snack

Quest bars, celery with home-made mayonnaise.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  0 oz.   Water: 122+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!